A sonic mystery tour
Magic orbs will lead you on a magic journey in town this weekend
SOME people working around Greenham Business Park have had their curiosity roused by the appearance of some
mysterious orbs outside 101 creation space.
All will become clear this weekend when sound artist Ray Lee’s latest project – a sonic mystery tour – hits the streets of Newbury. The event – Congregation – at 11.30am, 1.30pm and 3.30pm on Saturday and Sunday, is free, but booking is required. The tour begins in the town centre and the start point will be confirmed when booking.
Let one of the magic spheres take you to a secret location, guiding you by sound alone. Seemingly possessed of its own mind, it guides you through familiar and unfamiliar terrain. Your job is to keep the sphere ‘happy’ by going in the right direction and in return the sphere will lead you on a sonic journey to the mysterious final destination, a meeting of the spheres; a
chiming, pulsing web of electronic sound that you can control as you move around and a uniquely sci-fi experience.
The sight of one person after another carrying a distinctive silver sonic sphere will create the sense of being in a
performance taking place all around them, a humming electronic web of sound that will attract and engage passers-by in a strange processional science fiction ceremony. The mass of ‘singing’ spheres will be used to generate an electronic musical composition at the final location with the participants being the orchestral players.
Ray Lee is a multi-award-winning composer and artist with a childlike fascination with radio waves, magnetism and invisible forces. He is professor of sound art at Oxford Brookes University and an associate artist of OCM (Oxford Contemporary Music).
Followers of Corn Exchange outdoor events may remember his recent installation Ring Out. His other monumental outdoor works include Chorus, which has toured nationally andinternationally since 2013, and worldwide hit Siren, which has been performed more than 350 times in 18 countries across three continents.
Book at the Corn Exchange
